DDoS attacks attempts to make online services unavailable by overwhelming them with traffic. The most common targets for DDoS attacks are large companies, like banks and media outlets. However, it has become more common over the past few years for smaller businesses to find themselves asking how to stop a DDoS attack.
DDoS attacks are becoming increasingly commonplace. One reason for their increased prevalence is the increasing number of insecure Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Such devices can easily be infected by botnets.
Stopping a DDoS attack when malicious actors can launch over 1 Tbps at your servers is almost impossible. That means that it is more than important than ever to understand how to stop a DDoS attack after it has started to affect your operations.
So, here in this article we’ll cover the easiest and fastest ways to both prevent and stop a DDoS attacks. And also, we will help you to stop a DDoS attack which is already in progress against your website. Let’s get started.
Learn how to stop a DDoS attack
Are you currently experiencing a DDoS attack? Or you believe your web property is going to be targeted? So, take the following steps immediately for maximum protection:
1. Recognition of the DDoS attack
You should be able to identify when you are under attack, If you run your own servers. Because when you identify the problems with your website are due to a DDOS attack, you can stop the DDOS attack sooner.
To be in a position to do this, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with your typical inbound traffic profile; the more you know about what your normal traffic looks like, the easier it is to find out when its profile changes. Most DDoS attacks start as spikes in traffic. It is helpful to be able to tell the difference between a sudden surge of legitimate visitors and the start of a DDoS attack.
2. Overprovision bandwidth
Actually it means that you need to have more bandwidth to your Web server than you ever think you are likely to need. In this way, you can accommodate sudden and unexpected surges in traffic that could be a result of an advertising campaign, a special offer or even a mention of your company in the media.
Even if you overprovision by 100 percent or 500 percent, that won’t stop a DDoS attack. But it may give you a few extra minutes to act before your resources are overwhelmed completely.
3. Defense at the network periphery
If you run your own web server, you can defend at the network periphery. There are a few technical measures that can be taken to partially reduce the effect of an attack, especially in the first minutes. Some of these are quite simple. For example, you can:
- limit your router to prevent your Web server from being overwhelmed
- add filters to tell your router to drop packets from obvious sources of attack
- timeout half-open connections more aggressively
- leave spoofed or malformed packages
- set lower SYN, ICMP, and UDP flood drop thresholds
Actually we can say that although such steps have been effective in the past, DDoS attacks are now usually too large for such measures to be able to stop a DDoS attack completely. But the only thing which is true, is that you can hope such measures can buy a little time for you before a DDoS attack increases.
4. Call your ISP or hosting provider
In this step you should call your ISP or hosting provider if you do not host your own Web server. So, tell them you are under attack, and ask for help. For doing this more quickly, you can keep emergency contacts for your ISP or hosting provider readily available. Depending on the strength of the attack, the ISP or hoster may already have discovered it or they may themselves start to be overwhelmed by the attack.
You will have a better protection from a DDoS attack if your Web server is located in a hosting center than if you run it yourself. That’s because its data center will likely have far higher bandwidth links and higher capacity routers than your company has, and its staff will probably have more experience dealing with attacks. Having your Web server located with a hoster will also keep DDoS traffic aimed at your Web server off your corporate LAN. So, at least that part of your business which may includes email and possibly voice over IP (VoIP) services, should operate normally during an attack.
If a DDoS attack is large enough, the first thing a hosting company or ISP is likely to do is “null route” your traffic. It will result in packets destined for your Web server being dropped before they arrive.
Allowing a DDoS to network would be very costly for a hosting company. Because, it destroys a lot of bandwidth and can affect other customers. So, the first thing they might do is black hole you for a while. The first thing a hosting company might do when they see a customer under attack is log onto their own routers and stop the traffic getting onto their network. That takes about two minutes to use BGP (border gateway protocol) and then falling off traffic.
5. Call a DDoS mitigation specialist
You’d better to use a specialist DDoS mitigation company. It will likely be your best chance of staying online in case of very large attacks. These organizations have large-scale infrastructure and use a variety of technologies, including data scrubbing, to help keep your website online. You may need to contact a DDoS mitigation company directly, or your hosting company or service provider may have a partnership agreement with one to handle large attacks.
DDoS mitigation services are not free, so it’s up to you whether you want to pay to stay online or take the hit and wait for the DDoS attack to subside before continuing to do business. Subscribing to a DDoS mitigation service on an ongoing basis may cost a few hundred dollars a month. If you wait until you need one, so you should expect to pay much more for the service and wait longer before it starts to work.
6. Creation of a DDoS playbook
You can create a playbook in order to be sure that your organization reacts as quickly and effectively as possible to stop a DDoS attack. Creating playbook records in detail all steps of a pre-planned response when an attack is detected.
This should include the actions detailed above. For example it should include contact names and telephone numbers of all those who may need to be brought into action as part of the playbook’s plan. DDoS mitigation companies can help with this by running a simulated DDoS attack. Also, they can enable you to develop and refine a rapid corporate procedure for reacting to a real attack.
An important part of your planned response to a DDoS attack that should not be overlooked is how you communicate the problem to customers. DDoS attacks can last as long as 24 hours. So a good communication can ensure that the cost to your business is minimized while you remain under attack.
Web Application Firewall
A web application firewall is the best defense against most common types of application DDoS attacks. However, complete automation doesn’t offer the best network security. Managed Web Application Firewall feeds data directly to cyber security experts who can recognize malicious chunks of traffic trying to bring your services down. Once identified, they apply rules and policies to block such attacks based on bot signatures, malicious IPs, and so on. It helps you stop a DDoS attack effectively.
Hopefully, the above information gives you a little more insight on how to stop a DDoS attack. They are just some ways out of many different ways you could approach the situation. We hope this article be useful for you to stop a DDoS attack.
